


So many nights we'll still spend together

by savvyliterate



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-03
Updated: 2011-11-03
Packaged: 2017-10-25 16:19:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/272287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are times when you don't want to face your spouse. That's when you usually need that person the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So many nights we'll still spend together

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after "Day of the Moon" and is canon-compliant to the end of series 6. Another take on how the aftermath of the Doctor leaving River after his first kiss could have gone.

The TARDIS came two hours after his younger self left her behind.

River heard the brakes wheezing, but didn't spring off her bunk the way she normally did. There was too much to process, far too much to deal with at the moment, and for the first time in a very long time, she didn't want to see her husband.

He, of course, always saw things differently.

The Doctor let himself into the cell with a whirl of the sonic and gave River a bright smile. "Hello, sweetie!"

She stared at the wall.

"Oh, you're right. Sounds a lot better coming from you. Oooh, how about this?" He pulled his black diary from his coat pocket and flipped through it. "How you doing, bon-bon?"

No response.

"Dumpling? Dewdrop? Petal?"

Still no response.

"You're right, rubbish, all of it." The Doctor tore out the paper, balled it up and tossed it away. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at River, taking in the rigid posture, the clothes she wore, and the pieces began to slide into place. He knew they'd been close to this point, but not quite sure how close. "Where did you come from, River?"

For the first time since he arrived, her eyes met his, and he saw the tears shimmering in them. "Florida. 1969," she replied, her voice cool and distant.

"I see. Well, that explains a lot of it. Is there anything I can do for you?" He reached for her hand.

"Yes," River said after a moment. "Yes, there is."

"What's that?"

She promptly decked him.

\-----

"You have a mean right hook," the Doctor grumbled as he inspected himself in the small mirror over the pitifully small sink in the cell. He worked his jaw, pleased that it was still in one place, then tapped the already tender area around his eye. "You get that from your father, you know." He looked back at her, and her gaze had returned to the wall. "Come on, then let's get going."

"Doctor, I believe I want to stay here today."

"No." The Doctor crossed back over to River, crouching by the bunk. He risked his next two regenerations and placed a hand on her knee, his thumb gently stroking it. She was so tense, but now he knew all her tells as much as she had known his when he first met her. It only took 30 seconds for her to relax just slightly enough that he knew she would listen. "No," he repeated softly, "I think now, especially now, you shouldn't be alone."

He took her hand, and she let him. It worried him, how passive she was being. Almost like in the first few days after their marriage, when the slightest sound made her jump and pull a gun. It had made sharing a bed with her quite interesting those first few nights. She looked so lost, and he knew he was doing that to her and would continue to do so. The scales had tipped, the hour glass was now pointing down, and the sands of time were starting to run out.

They walked hand in hand into the TARDIS, and he stood at the console not quite sure what to take them. Really, this sort of stuff wasn't his best area, as Amy constantly reminded him. Oh, he'd gotten better. Years and years of marriage had forced him to get better, and the Doctor was actually surprised that marriage go-around #2 hadn't been as disastrous as the first on Gallifrey. Granted, it hadn't been all that bad, and he'd gotten children and grandchildren out of it. But that had been arranged to suit the Time Lords, and this one was entirely for himself.

Now his wife was hurting, and it was his fault, which meant he had to make it better. Either that or face the wrath of River's parents. Amy's temper combined with Rory's Romaness … the Doctor shuddered and quickly took them into the vortex. No, no, best get this sorted fast.

He wondered if maybe they should visit Amy and Rory. Seeing her parents might make her feel better, he thought as he went back over the events of 1969 in his mind, seeing it with the clarity that hindsight always provided. There were so many answers now. The little girl in the spacesuit, Amy's pregnancy. It had all been River, every single bit of it. She'd bore herself up marvelously, with all the half-Scottish stubbornness and strength of will it had taken to keep his secrets.

And maybe that was it. The Doctor looked up from the console to see that River had sank into the captain's chair, looking very, very tired. Even River Song could only take so much before breaking. He'd seen that in a rather spectacular fashion. "When's the last time you slept?" he asked.

"Catnapped during the three months we were tracking down the Silence. But really? Before Utah."

"Why don't you take a bath?"

River winged an eyebrow suspiciously. "A bath?"

"Yes! Big tub, lots of bubbles. Rubber ducks. Rubber ducks are really cool. Oh, and boats! Those are even cooler."

"No big adventure? Just a bath?"

"Baths can be adventurous!" He quickly flushed. They'd had several of _those_ types of baths. He liked them the best. "But, not that. Just thought you know … you might need it. Chlorine and all. Swimming pool. Shooting Silence. Things like that."

For the first time since he'd gotten there, River's face softened and and small smile creeped across her face. "You really are trying," she murmured and moved to his side, kissing his cheek. "Bless. All right, I'll take a bath." She lightly touched the darkening bruise around his eye. "You go in the med bay and take care of that."

"No, I think I'll keep it. Deserved it, don't you think?"

"Go heal it, my love." She squeezed his arm and slipped out of the console room.

The Doctor busied himself at the console, randomly flipping switches and toying with the monitor. He wasn't quite sure what to do next. He bounced on his toes and rocked back on his heels. He fiddled with the phone in the console, thought about texting Amy or Rory. Really, Rory knew how to manage in cases like this, but he probably wouldn't be too thrilled -- even given the circumstances -- to learn that the Doctor had caused his daughter a good amount of heartbreak. No, best to leave the Ponds out of it. He could take care of this one on his own.

He went and healed the eye, only because River wanted it.

He finally gave in after 30 minutes and sought her out. The bath hadn't been run after all, but he could see that she had used the shower. Frowning a bit, he walked into their bedroom and found her curled up on her side of the bed in a plush dressing gown, hair still wrapped in a towel, and sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted.

"You probably didn't sleep at all, did you?" he scolded, shaking a finger at her, reveling a bit in the fact that she, for once, wouldn't be able to answer back. "Of course you wouldn't sleep. I don't think I slept either. Too busy arguing with the soldiers over chess moves and block placements. Oh, and the _Banana Splits_! Love that show. A show named after a dessert. Like Bananaman. That was named after a fruit."

He kicked off his shoes, perched on his side of the bed, hands in his lap and watched her sleep. A hand creeped toward her curls because they were there. They were like being drawn to the biggest chocolate fudge sundae in the universe. You just couldn't touch them. He scooted until he was laying down, then gently unwound the towel and started threading his fingers through her curls. They were still damp and mussed from the shower. He carefully twisted the ringlets around each finger, but they were too wet to just spring away.

Then his hand got stuck.

"Oops," he whispered and tried to extract his hand from the tangled mess he caused. Instead, he pulled and she flinched.

"What're you doing?" River murmured sleepily.

"Ah, my hand's stuck."

She reached behind her head and deftly extracted his fingers from the knotted curls, then fell back asleep.

Right. Well, curl-playing was out. Well, there was curling, and that wasn't always a bad game, and maybe River would be up for a game of it when she woke up in a couple hours. There was always the annual intergalactic curling exposition on Trifya, that would be a wonderful place to take her to. Had the best snowcones. Oh, but he really needed to make sure it wasn't during the Fghan rebellion. That'd been nasty and resulted in a curling ban for 200 years. He wondered if he had anything to do with it?

The Doctor shuffled a bit restlessly. Well, now he was bored. He was halfway tempted to poke River awake, but then she'd probably get revenge in a way he didn't like. Just like her mother there. He briefly considered going to see Amy and Rory again, then firmly told himself no. He'd been married for 261 years, and he wasn't about to run to his in-laws because his wife was upset. This time.

There was only one thing he could do. He peeled off his coat, undid his braces, then curled himself around his wife. She was warm and smelled better than the entire garden planet of Ryrros.

Much to his surprise, he slept.

\-----

He woke to find River giving him a long, considering look.

"Hello," the Doctor murmured sleepily, and in the time-honored manner of content men and Time Lords, nudged the lower half of his body against her as he nuzzled her neck.

"Hello," she said with a bit of amusement and pushed herself back against his growing arousal. He flushed a bit.

Oh, it really be just too easy to pull her onto him. He was certainly up to the task of sleepy morning sex. Well, really it'd only been about an hour and 45 minutes since he'd fallen asleep, and it was more like 3:47 p.m. somewhere, but really, who was counting these things?

"Are you feeling better?" She looked much better. Calm, collected, the River he knew. She no longer looked lost and exhausted.

"Much. Thank you, my love." She gently trailed her fingers down his cheek, and he leaned into the caress like a cat addicted to being petted. "You were right, I did need this."

And because she was there, and really there was no reason why he shouldn't, he kissed her. It was a long, languid kiss, one of those shared by two people who'd been through everything and knew each other inside and out. He rolled fully onto her, nestling between her legs, pressing his pelvis into hers as his fingers dove into her now-dry hair. He kissed her again and again, need starting to overtake the laziness, and he just wants to melt into her.

Then, he tasted the tears.

He pulled back, alarmed. "I haven't gotten that bad, have I?"

"No." She dashed a hand across her eyes. "I just thought … it'd been so long since I'd seen you, before Utah and 1969 and spending all that time there … it was your first, my love. I thought it was my last."

"What? No! Of course it wasn't your last! Who told you that?"

River merely arched an eyebrow.

"Rule 1! Always Rule 1!"

"You have about 16 Rule 1s, my love."

"Well, it's the one about me lying."

"No, you're not." She lightly traced her finger around his bow tie. "You've been gradually getting younger, but you knew who I was to you. But this … you honestly didn't know who I was. You didn't trust me."

"I've always trusted you."

River's eyes flashed. "Don't lie to me about that."

"I'm not lying to you! Really, why would I have allowed to fly the …" The Doctor's mouth snapped shut, then he swore under his breath. "Spoilers," he hissed. "No, my younger self trusted you. I was trying to make you tell me what was going on, trying to make all of you. I didn't have a clue at the time, you know that now. Well, my younger self. You're harder to crack than the Pandorica."

"That's a fairy tale."

Not for much longer, he thought a bit sadly.

"My love, I knew these days were coming. I knew enough from you, Amy, and Rory to know our lives were going in reverse. I thought … part of me …"

"Not in exact opposites. Look, we've been here together for hours, and the universe hasn't exploded yet, eh?"

A smile tugged at her lips. "Oh, sweetie. Give you five minutes and a paper clip and I'm sure we'll be in jeopardy."

"Oi!"

She laughed now, the last of the tension easing from her and this time she was the one who kissed him. Oh, he liked these kisses, where her fingers dove into his hair and fisted hard and it was all nipping teeth and restless legs and little moans when his lips trailed down to the side of her neck and sucked a bit gently.

"I lied, you know," he murmured into her skin as his hands quickly undid the dressing gown's belt. The fabric parted, and his hands slipped inside to skim across her ribcage, up the flat, soft planes of her stomach, then brush against the underside of her breasts before cupping them, flicking his thumbs over the nipples.

"I figured that one out," she said with a bit of a gasp. "I really should be mad at you for that."

"But, you're not." He started to lower his mouth to her breast, but she stopped him, tilting his head up with two fingers under his chin.

"No, I'm not. I know why you didn't tell me your younger self was going to show up in that diner. I know things needed to play out the way they needed to. But, my love, I was still really pissed."

"I can still feel the slap," he said with a grin.

She kissed his nose. "Good." She flicked open his shirt buttons then moved to the waist of his trousers, unbuttoning and unzipping there too before removing his bowtie. She started to drop it aside when he suddenly grabbed it from her. She gave him a puzzled look and he pulled back, quickly shedding the rest of his clothes while she shrugged out of the gown.

He handed her one half of the bow tie. "You know what to do with this."

She smiled and wrapped her hand around it at the same time he did. "As I'm told," she whispered, tears shimmering again, this time from joy as they kissed, as he slipped into her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

They moved together, slowly and gently. A testament to the years they'd spent together, and even though the time was starting to spin away from them, that was then and this was now. A precious single moment in time, caught and celebrated again and again. There was no worrying about the future, no regrets about the past. Just a single moment to celebrate everything they'd done together for each other.


End file.
